Bhubaneswar: Police in Odisha’s Cuttack district have arrested two retired police personnel, two retired home guards and two serving home guards, nearly a decade after an alleged custodial death of 44-year-old man Saroj Senapati alias Akula.
Those arrested have been identified as retired assistant sub-inspector Bhagaban Sahoo, retired havildar Pramod Kumar Patra, retired home guards Joginath Nayak and Bhikari Nayak and serving home guards Maheswar Debata, and Dharmaraj Rana.
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The case dates back to December 9, 2016, when Akula was detained at Narasinghpur police station following a complaint filed by his neighbour, who accused him of assault during a dispute over cattle grazing. He was allegedly subjected to torture, including brutal beatings during the interrogation. The police had initially denied the allegations of death, claiming that Akula died in a scuffle with cops in while in detention.
A case was registered under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including house-trespass, wrongful confinement, wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing hurt, criminal intimidation, murder, and common intention).
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took suo motu cognisance of the matter and launched its probe, while the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) also sought reports from the Cuttack superintendent of police regarding the custodial death. Police officials said the delay in arrest was over collection of evidence.
Between 2014 and 2024, there were 48 cases of custodial deaths in Odisha, as per government records.
